Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Top Ten Characters I'd Like to be Best Friends With


10. Ethan Muller from The Genius

Starts out as a spoiled, snobby, ultra-postmodernist jerk until the character developments kicks in. But he's also the owner of a Manhattan art gallery! That's a helluva crowd to run with.

9. The narrator of Last Nights of Paris

He hangs out with the 1920s Parisian underworld. SWEET.

8. Mr. Trąba from A Thousand Peaceful Cities

Because he's just insane.

7. Adrien Fournier & Co. in The Officers' Ward

The whole book is about overcoming tragedy through friendship and camaraderie. And these guys totally rule at it.

6. The narrator of Old School

We can talk literature over coffee. My idea of a fun afternoon.

5. Reitz Steyn and Ben Maritz from To Hell with Cronjé

I liked the bond they formed over a shared love of science and the natural world in the midst of a hopeless war. Very beautiful and very poignant.

4. Anita Blake


I've only read the first book so far and I've heard the series eventually goes waaaay downhill. But for now she's a badass heroine who holds her own against powerful supernatural beings and excels at a traditionally macho career. We can beat up Edward Cullen together!

3. The good guys in Lord of the Rings

I predict LOTR characters will feature prominently in everyone's picks this week, for obvious reasons.

2. Y.T. and Hiro Protagonist from Snow Crash

A kickass teen skateboard courier! A hacker with dreads and swords! A lawless cyberpunk dystopia! HOORAY!

1. Dante, as author and protagonist of The Divine Comedy

Not really a fictional character per se (The Divine Comedy is sort of a self-insert mythology/Real Person fanfic) but I loved loved LOVED his grande metaphysical poetry epic! They don't make them like this anymore, folks.

Okay, I just noticed this list only has two female characters . . . or three, actually, since #7 would include Marguerite. Now how the heck does a massive genderfail like this happen? Remembering my childhood favorites definitely would've helped - that would include Cassie from Animorphs, Dairine from High Wizardry, the Baby-Sitters' Club, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anne Shirley, and Meg from A Wrinkle in Time.

Damn, that would've helped a lot. WHAT HAS BECOME OF MY READING?




Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers' answers. Everyone is welcome to join. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don't worry if you can't come up with ten every time . . . just post what you can!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I left out LOTR characters from my list because I couldn't pick just one! It'd probably be Merry and Pippen though, those two are fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting list! I bet Dante could help with Edward too :p

Anonymous said...

I haven't even met any of those people on your list! Well, except for the ones you mentioned in the postscript. Out of all the blogs I read, I think you win for most esoteric reading (that's a good thing).

Emily said...

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for a woman to gravitate toward male (imaginary) friends...my partner gravitates toward female real-life friends even though he's a dude, because he likes to talk about reading and feelings and Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and it's easier to find ladies who want to discuss that stuff. :-)

I would hang out with the narrator of Old School, but the person I'd really pick from that novel is Susan Friedman. She was great!

Emily said...

PS - This is a fun exercise. It got me gazing at my shelves to figure out my own version. :-)

Anonymous said...

Such a unique list!

And, actually, you're the first blog I've seen with LOTR characters on it :D

Anonymous said...

The narrator from Old School probably would be fun to hang out with And I'm with Kayleigh on Merry and Pippen - those guys would be fun to party with.

Eileen said...

Kayleigh: Merry and Pippin did seem the most relatable. But I would probably choose Sam because of his loyalty.

Erica: He could sure help with Stephenie Meyer's godawful prose, that's for sure. "His sparkling, incandescent skin. . ." GAGH!

Softdrink: Most of what I read is translated fiction. Try it!

Emily: I actually had a really hard time coming up with this list. It would seem that most of the books I've read don't have particularly friendly characters! I also wonder why relatable female characters seem more prevalent in kid's books rather than the literary, often international, fiction I read now (in my experience, anyway).

Sarah: Really? I've seen two others.

Sarah #2: Actually, I think Emily's right and we should go with Susan Friedman.

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